Angel DE, Lloyd P, Carville K, Santamaria N, et al.
International wound journal. Date of publication 2011 Apr 1;volume 8(2):176-85.
1. Int Wound J. 2011 Apr;8(2):176-85. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-481X.2010.00765.x. Epub
2011 Feb 9.
The clinical efficacy of two semi-quantitative wound-swabbing techniques in
identifying the causative organism(s) in infected cutaneous wounds.
Angel DE(1), Lloyd P, Carville K, Santamaria N.
Author information:
(1)Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
donna.angel@health.wa.gov.au
A prospective randomised controlled trial of two paired wound-swabbing techniques
(Levine versus Z) was conducted to establish which method was more effective in
determining the presence of bacteria in clinically infected wounds. The Levine
technique involves rotating the wound swab over a 1-cm(2) area of the wound; the
Z technique involves rotating the swab between the fingers in a zigzag fashion
across the wound without touching the wound edge. Fifty patients were recruited
into the study with acute (42%) and chronic wounds (58%). Overall, the Levine
technique detected significantly more organisms than the Z technique (P≤ 0· 001).
When acute and chronic wounds were analysed separately, the Levine technique
again detected more organisms in both acute (P≤ 0· 001) and chronic wounds (P≤ 0·
001). We conclude that the Levine technique is superior to the Z technique and
this result may be because of the Levine technique's ability to express fluid
from the wound bed and thereby sampling a greater concentration of microorganisms
from both the surface and slightly below the surface of the wound.
© 2011 The Authors. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and Medicalhelplines.com Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1742-481X.2010.00765.x
PMID: 21303456 [Indexed for MEDLINE]
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